CTE – THERE, I SAID IT – CTE!

“Sharing symptoms with PTSD, patients who died with CTE have been described to present with poor concentration and memory, irritability, depression, and suicidality.” THERE, I SAID IT – CTE!

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy – It seems that it was/is much easier to identify these injuries in football and hockey players, and boxers and MMA fighters…..Why? There are more than 250,000 cases of Mild TBI in the military from OEF and OIF, and many of these are multiple and repetitive injuries. Maybe we should take a closer look, and just like the NFL, NHL, and other professional contact sports.

Believe me, the VA and the military does not like this term, nor do they want to address it!

Yet, I believe the brain heals. It continues to repair itself after injury unless other factors become involved. One of those factors is repeated or aggravated injury, and which then may lead to other problems. If you have repetitive or multiple Mild TBIs, (concussions with loss of consciousness), and which is many guys within the Special Operations community then you should understand the risks. May also explain if things seem to be getting worse and not better….This is from the 2013 Report to Congress on Traumatic Brain Injury (Link Below)

Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease Following TBI
Epidemiologic evidence indicates that synergy exists between TBI and permanent neurodegeneration. Longitudinal MRI-based studies have demonstrated brain atrophy occurring in the months to years after TBI (Ross, 2011). Contradictory findings regarding the relationship between TBI and Alzheimer’s disease exist (Van Den Heuvel et al. 2007). Evidence suggests that risk for dementia is increased two to four fold after moderate or severe TBI, but risk following mild TBI is unclear (Shively, Scher, Perl, and Diaz-Arrastia, 2012).

Additionally, evidence indicates that repetitive TBI can cause a unique neurodegenerative disorder first reported in boxers and called dementia pugilistica (Martland, 1928). Now termed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), this disorder is characterized by the aggregation of the microtubule-associated protein called tau in nerve cells. This is the same protein that aggregates inside dying neurons in Alzheimer’s disease and in the brains of persons with a tau gene variant that causes fronto-temporal dementia. Some studies demonstrate that tau aggregation, once started, has the ability to spread from one nerve cell to another; this could explain how an initial focal injury could lead to widespread damage over time (de Calignon et al. 2012). The genetic variant apolipoprotein E4, a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, has been associated with poorer outcomes after head injury (Nathoo et al., 2003) and in some studies with increased risk for the later development of Alzheimer’s disease (Graham et al., 2002; Luukinen et al., 2005; Rabadi and Jordan, 2001; Jordan et al., 1997). However, this association has not been found in all studies (Jellinger, 2004). More recently, CTE has been described in athletes who participated in contact sports and in 21 veterans (86% of whom were also athletes) (Goldstein et al.2012; McKee et al., 2009). Sharing symptoms with PTSD, patients who died with CTE have been described to present with poor concentration and memory, irritability, depression, and suicidality. The extent of the burden of CTE in service members exposed to TBI is unknown.

Again, It seems that it was/is much easier to identify these injuries in football and hockey players, and boxers and MMA fighters…..Why?

2 Comments

Recently, I have found a large number of cnruert (within the last three years) and older veterans (within the last 15 years) are applying for un-employability. I have seen some veterans that should never work again because they were injured then there are a group of veteran that apply simply because they can’t are won’t find a job so the VA pays them as if they are 100% service connected. I think the VA should get out of this business and list a veteran as being service connected based on his or her physical or mental condition not on his or her ability to find employment. I think the VA should encourage every veteran to work. The VA should encourage Veterans to own a business veteran even if it’s a small gift shop. Veterans who work do live longer and they have a self-worth that will help them move forward in life. The VA medical Centers have great Doctors but if a Veterans is listed as un-employability what reason does the veteran have for showing improvement during his course of treatment. IF a VA Doctor develops a treatment that works to cure PTSD or improves TBI Veterans but the Data is muddy by Veterans that lie to protect un-employability then every veteran loses both now and in the future. I am and know a large number of 100% service connected veteran who work every day we are employed and we want to stay employability. VA get out of the un-employability business and into the treatment, cure and Veterans back to work business.

Effective, Immediate Treatment for Head Injury is Readily Available with Current Medical and Therapeutic Intervention
Washington, DC – April, 2016 – The TreatNow Coalition is focused on the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to treat traumatic brain injury/concussion. “We have spent the last eight years building coalitions of civilian physicians and clinics to provide safe and effective care to more than 1,900 veterans, active duty service members, professional athletes and civilians who have suffered head injuries. Nearly all have experienced significant, often life-altering, improvements in brain function. In more than 24 cases, we have helped heal special operations warriors who were at risk for medical discharges due to head injury,” according to Robert Beckman, PhD, Director of the Coalition. He points to published clinical trials that led the Israeli Defense Forces to make HBOT the standard of care for TBI. Beckman also cites research published this month in the journal Neurological Sciences that concludes: “Compelling evidence suggests the advantage of HBOT in traumatic brain injury…suggesting its utility as a standard intensive care regimen in traumatic brain injury.”

“Watchful Waiting” and repeated cognitive tests are wholly unacceptable standards of medical care for concussion or any head injury given that effective, brain-healing therapies are readily available, according to TreatNow.org. Regardless of the type of head injury, research has shown that underlying neurological and vascular brain damage can lead to long-term, even fatal, conditions that do not heal themselves. Meanwhile, evidence-based clinical success with head injury treatment protocols worldwide continues to accumulate.

Tragic stories of ball players suffering long-term debilitating consequences of brain injury, the recent release of the movie Concussion and the increase in the suicide rate among service members, have focused media and public attention on the role of head injury in sports, especially in young people. The head injury epidemic in sports and the recognition of traumatic brain injury (TBI) as the “signature wound” of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, have been extensively documented for more than a decade. Treatment has been available for more than 30 years.

It is known that a single blow to the head, multiple impacts or a blast wave, whether from sports, car wrecks or combat, can lead to cognitive impairment, degenerative brain damage, depression, dementia, thoughts of suicide, PTSD, post-concussion syndrome (PCS), and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and myriad other complex diagnoses. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are nearly 2.5 million emergency room visits for traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year in the US. The Rand Corporation puts the numbers of veterans living with brain injury at more than 420,000, with some estimates nearing 800,000.

The consensus in civilian and military medicine is that any protocol to heal the brain must include multiple, integrated therapies including medical intervention to reduce the effects of brain swelling and inflammation, nutritional support, physical therapy, psychological/behavioral and cognitive therapy; other alternative therapies such as meditation, yoga, and acupuncture can be considered. Dr. Joseph Maroon, a noted neurosurgeon and medical advisor to professional football, has written that, “Substantial animal and human research now suggests that…natural dietary supplements, vitamins and minerals, and the use of hyperbaric oxygen may be a better first-line choice for the treatment of [concussion] which has generally been underreported by both athletes and the military.” Unfortunately, military medicine and the Veterans Administration rely heavily on the use of combinations of unproven and potentially suicidal psychoactive and other drugs.

According to Dr. George Mychaskiw II, former editor-in-chief of The Journal of Hyperbaric Medicine, “Hyperbaric oxygen is a safe, easily used treatment that, in many cases, has resulted in a dramatic improvement in the symptoms of patients with [TBI/Concussion]. Every day we are…gathering more data validating its efficacy…I feel, as do many of my colleagues, that there is sufficient clinical and research evidence to justify the use of [HBOT] as a standard-of-care treatment for [TBI]…”

Join the Veteran Voyage 360 Team!

By joining the team, we'll be able to keep you updated as we raise awareness for TBI/PTSD and put an end to the 22 VETERANS a day, who take their own lives. With your support and involvement we can end this epidemic.